MEANING
A slow, mournful song or piece of music associated with death or loss.
Use it for
Mournful processions, grief expressed through music, bleak soundscapes.Give mourning an audible pace instead of simply calling the scene sad.
Words that belong together
- funeral dirge
- sing a dirge
- solemn dirge
On the page
A dirge drifted from the room where the coffin stood.
The fiddler turned the wedding tune into a dirge.
Without words, the low organ notes still sounded like a dirge.
Nearby words
Related words
Word forms
- Base
- dirge
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Usage notes
Primary category: gothic. May be figurative; emphasizes a grieving sound rather than the formal liturgy of a requiem. Plural dirges.
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